Hood adjustment

[timbo]

Hi, does anyone know if there is any adjustment in the catch that pulls the hood towards the front screen? Rattling hood is starting to bug me, and it doesn't look as though the catch pulls the hood up tightly enough.

[1schoir]

Hi, does anyone know if there is any adjustment in the catch that pulls the hood towards the front screen? Rattling hood is starting to bug me, and it doesn't look as though the catch pulls the hood up tightly enough.

Timbo:

Since you are posting from England, I'm assuming that by "hood" you are referring to the convertible top.

There is an adjustment that you can make which will pull the top back by means of pulling pressure on the rear main bow of the top.

There are two "tension ropes", as Porsche calls them, one left and one right, and they are anchored on their upper end to the underside of the rear main bow and on the lower end to a steel ball.

The adjustment is made by turning the 14mm bolt head that is part of the small mechanism to which the steel ball is attached. Turning the bolt counterclockwise will add to the tension (i.e., pull the rear main bow down further and thus increase the tension on the forward edge of the top).

Here are two photos of where each of the two 14mm bolts are located, one to the left and rear of the engine compartment cover and the other to the right and rear. Each of the two bolts are down below the surface level of the engine compartment cover by about 6 or 8 inches:

The red arrow points to the 14mm adjusting bolt, and the yellow arrow points to the lower steel ball cup of the cable, here pressed onto (and hiding) the steel ball.

This is a look at the mechanism, with the foam drain tray material pulled away from it, and showing the steel ball exposed.

As the 14mm bolt is turned CCW, the steel ball goes down and thus increases tension on the top.

Another means of adjustment is by lengthening (or shortening) the front pushrods on the V-levers. You can perform a fine adjustment by popping off the plastic ball cup from the steel ball at the base of the B-Pillar and then screwing in the plastic ball cup by one turn. If your top started out even on both sides, then perform the same adjustment on the opposite side.

Screwing in (or out) the plastic ball cups effectively shortens (or lengthens) the overall length of the front pushrod, and that affects the distance that the leading edge of the top ends up when it is fully closed, before the latch is used to lock it shut.

One caveat: With either of the two adjustment methods above, make sure that you mark the position of the 14mm bolt or of the plastic ball cup before you start the adjustment, and then keep track of the number of turns that you move them to make the adjustment. It's easy to lose track of the original position, and you always want to be able to return to that position if necessary.

Regards, Maurice.

Edited November 3, 2011 by 1schoir

[timbo]

Many thanks Maurice, very comprehensive reply. I should have remembered that we don't all speak the same kind of English. Do I take it that there is no actual adjustment of the latch itself? If so then I presumably need to lengthen the push rods by unscrewing the ball joint. Perhaps I should have said that the noise I get is from the front of the hood/convertible top where it attaches to the windscreen frame.

Edited November 3, 2011 by timbo

[1schoir]

Many thanks Maurice, very comprehensive reply. I should have remembered that we don't all speak the same kind of English. Do I take it that there is no actual adjustment of the latch itself? If so then I presumably need to lengthen the push rods by unscrewing the ball joint. Perhaps I should have said that the noise I get is from the front of the hood/convertible top where it attaches to the windscreen frame.

Timbo:

There is no actual adjustment of the latch itself.

If you don't get the desired result from adjusting the length of the front pushrods, try one turn CCW at a time on each of the 14mm adjusting bolts for the tension ropes. Again, that will pull the rear main bow downwards and increase the tension on the canvas top when you are closing the latch.

Regards, Maurice.

[timbo]

Will have ago this weekend, thanks again.

[timbo]

Ok, I've had a closer look and the hood actually feels nicely tensioned, so I don't really want to play about with it too much. The rattle seems to emanate from the two plastic locating lugs, so as an experiment I've places a thin piece of rubber under the latch to see if it pulls the 'hood' closer to the windscreen frame. Strangely,if if roll the d/s window down a tad the rattle stops, but its definitely not the window itself that rattles when I go over rough roads, and there are plenty of those over here.

On an un related matter, took a look at the front control arms this morning after feeling a little slack when stabbing the brakes on at low speeds, and the center bush which holds the hub is knackered. I replaced the track control arms 2-3 years ago so I'm a little peed off. Was intending to replace the rear TCA's because the inner bushes squeak annoyingly, looks like I'have to replace all 4 now. I was wondering if its possible to replace the middle bush as the rest of the arm is only 2-3 years old and seems ok. Don't think its a job I can do, but do you know if it can be done?

Cheers, Timbo.